Mom Creates 'Make America Kind Again' Signs to Promote Unity in Election Strife
"Kindness needs to be most important thing to focus on," said Amanda Blanc.
— -- One mom made it her mission to spread a message of unity and kindness throughout the election season with her own brand of signs. Even though election day has passed, the message -- and word-of-mouth about her signs -- continues to spread like wildfire.
Amanda Blanc, of Sacramento, California, started producing yard signs with the slogan "Make America Kind Again," as a response to the sea of typical campaign signs planted all over front yards. Demand for her signs grew so large she’s expanded her merchandise to include tote bags, acrylic tumblers and decals.
"When I designed it I was only going to order 15 or 20 of them," Blanc, 26, told ABC News. "My thought was, 'If I order 100, I’ll get stuck with 80 and I don’t need that pile in my living room.' But my husband encouraged me to go ahead with it, so we ordered 100 on a hope and we sold out in less than 48 hours."
Blanc was inspired to create a sign that everyone could get behind because "It’s something the country really needs to hear," she said. "It doesn’t matter which candidate, whatever you believe is ok. But you can always agree on kindness."
Her children were a big reason she felt the messaged was needed.
"The biggest thing is for my kids to see kindness," she said. "I have really young kids and I don’t want them to grow up in this world where everyone is so angry to each other. Between friends and family groups, the politics are driving people apart because they’re holding onto politics rather than family values. Kindness needs to be the most important thing to focus on. We need to be kind and respect one another. People can have different views, but I do want to assume that everyone can be kind."
Blanc has been selling the signs on Etsy since right before Halloween, with no sign of slowing down.
"Once the results came in Tuesday night, I did kind of expect it to slow down a little bit. But it hasn’t," she said of her still-booming business. "I woke up early this morning and had 20 new orders waiting for me. They just keep pouring in. They’re not slowing down."
People continue to message her asking if she’s started making hats and shirts yet, she said. But she reminds them she is a very small business that is moving in "baby steps."
"I keep reminding them we are this single family unit," she laughed.
More than anything, Blanc hopes her "Make America Kind Again" signs help bring people together.
"Unity," she said. "You can disagree and I don’t expect to live in this Utopian world, but I do hope everyone takes away the unity behind it."
